Only an eccentric like Quentin Tarantino would rewrite the history of World War II to suit his cinematic ends. Tarantino, steeped in cinema history, has a way of wearing his influences on his sleeve yet making them seem more like other Tarantino films that those original sources. Thus this entertaining thriller (with touches of humor) feels both fresh and familiar.
Here, instead of an original score he uses pieces of other scores, the western scores of Ennio Morricone (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) in particular. The title, excepting the odd spelling, comes from the American release of a 1978 Italian film whose tag line was “Whatever the Dirty Dozen did they do it dirtier.” The main plot, about a ramshackle bunch of Nazi-slaying Jewish soldiers, is right out of The Dirty Dozen and probably a dozen other movies. But the way Tarantino uses dialogue and works quirky things like forgotten bar games into his plots, and the use of violence as catharsis, are quintessentially his own. Another trademark is the use of distinct “chapters” to separate major sequences. With varied settings and styles, they almost function as mini-movies.
For my taste, the way the soldiers’ lieutenant (Brad Pitt) relishes sadism was somewhat distasteful, leaving me in the uncomfortable position of feeling sorry for Nazis (or GNAT-zees, in Pitt’s odd, Southern accent), but the clever plotting, colorful characters (on both sides of the Nazi fence), and sheer cinematic flourish of the climax more than made up for that. The significantly violent parts are actually less than in other Tarantino films. Chistopher Waltz as the Nazi “Jew hunter” is a great villain whether speaking German, English, or French. And that climax is set at a French movie palace; the heroine (Mélanie Laurent) is a projectionist. Thus, Inglorious Basterds is as much a tribute to its director’s love of cinema as to war movies.
IMDB link
viewed on DVD in early March 2010 and reviewed 3/9–23/10
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